The New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN) is pleased to announce that for the fourth time, it has been selected as a grant recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program (NCIN). During the 2013-2014 academic year, the $100K RWJF grant to NYUCN will provide $10K scholarships directly to five students in NYUCN's accelerated bachelor's program who are traditionally underrepresented in the field of nursing and are pursuing a second career in nursing. The NCIN Scholarship Program was launched in 2008 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) to expand enrollment in accelerated degree programs in schools of nursing while increasing diversity in the nursing workforce.
"The NCIN scholarships provide opportunities for students from underrepresented groups in nursing to develop leadership skills through programs that are offered to them as well as opportunities to work with a mentor while they are in bachelor's program," said Ann Marie P. Mauro, PhD, RN, CNL, CNE Clinical Associate Professor, and NCIN Program Liaison at NYUCN. "The NCIN scholarship program not only increases the number of nurses from these underrepresented groups, but it also helps meet the nursing shortage more rapidly, encouraging graduates to continue their nursing education and hopefully to become nurse faculty educators in the future."
Since 2008, the NCIN program has distributed 3,117 scholarships to students at 125 unique schools of nursing. This year, funding for 400 scholarships was granted to 52 schools of nursing.
"At this time when the nation's need for highly educated nurses is growing, we are delighted to be able to support nursing students who will bring diverse and valuable perspectives to the field, and become capable, culturally-competent nurses," said David Krol, MD, MPH, FAAP, RWJF senior program officer. "NCIN is not only helping these students succeed in school, it is helping prepare the nursing workforce to meet the challenges that lie ahead."
"NYU College of Nursing has a proud history of preparing graduates for leadership roles in clinical practice, education, and research," said NYUCN Dean Eileen Sullivan-Marx, PhD, RN, FAAN, Erline Perkins McGriff Professor. "We are committed to cultivating leadership competencies in baccalaureate students from underrepresented groups who represent our hope for the future for making significant contributions to reducing health disparities and improving clinical outcomes in academic or clinical settings in which they choose to play a leadership role."
The 2013 NYUCN NCIN scholars will be selected this fall. Each scholar will select a nurse-mentor, recruited from the NYUCN Alumni Association, faculty, and members of the Upsilon Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International. The scholars will benefit from their mentoring relationship and individualized advisement with further opportunities for advanced education.
"NCIN is strengthening nursing education and creating a culture of change at schools of nursing across the country," said AACN President Jane Kirschling, PhD, RN, FAAN. "Our grantee schools are committed to enrolling students traditionally underrepresented in nursing, and students are benefiting from the emphasis on mentoring and leadership development that are hallmarks of the NCIN program. AACN is proud to collaborate with RWJF on this ground-breaking effort."
To date, the NCIN scholarship program has supported 25 students (NCIN Round 1, Round 4, and Round 5 scholars) at NYUCN. Currently, 27% of the Round 1 scholars have returned to NYUCN to begin their MS program, and 100% of the Round 4 scholars have taken graduate courses.
In response to the expected shortage of registered nurses (RNs) due to aging Baby Boomers and an increased need for health care (AACN, 2011), NYUCN's 15-Month Accelerated Baccalaureate Program has graduated more than 2,100 students since 1990; more than 1,300 since 2005. In the last three years, NYUCN has enrolled 1,280 ABS students (fall/spring). The program has been very successful and admission remains highly competitive; accepted students' average incoming GPA is 3.7. NYUCN offers excellent didactic instruction by doctorally prepared faculty and an innovative clinical model with 50% of clinical learning occurring in an on-campus high fidelity simulation setting and 50% in traditional off-campus clinical experiences at premier, diverse health care agencies. Our innovative baccalaureate curriculum was featured in the August 2012 NCIN FastTrack newsletter and website as well as a panel discussion and award winning poster at the 2012 NCIN Summit.
The NCIN program addresses a number of the challenges confronting nursing education, professional development, and the national workforce shortage. Accelerated programs like the ones supported by NCIN provide scholars with the most efficient route to licensure as a registered nurse (RN) and create opportunities for adults who have already completed a baccalaureate or graduate degree in a field other than nursing. These programs prepare students to pass the licensure exam required for all RNs in as little as 12-18 months and provide quicker routes to workforce eligibility than traditional programs.
The 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, recommends increasing the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree or higher, and increasing the diversity of students to create a workforce prepared to meet the health care demands of diverse populations across the lifespan. NCIN is helping to advance those recommendations, enabling schools to expand student capacity in higher education, and encouraging more diversity.
By bringing more nurses into the profession at the baccalaureate and master's degree levels, the NCIN program also helps to address the nation's nurse faculty shortage. Data from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration show that nurses entering the profession via baccalaureate programs are four times more likely than other nurses to pursue a graduate degree in nursing. This trend is reflected in the NCIN scholars, as 91 percent of the students receiving funding in the first three years of the program indicate a desire to advance their education to the master's and doctoral levels.
For more information about NYUCN's accelerated program, visit http://www.nyu.edu/nursing/academicprograms/futurestudents/acceleratedstudentstories.html. To learn more about the NCIN program, visit http://www.newcareersinnursing.org.
The New York University College of Nursing is a global leader in nursing education, research, and practice. It offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing; Master of Arts and Post-Master's Certificate Programs; a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree; and a Doctor of Philosophy in Research Theory and Development. For more information, visit http://www.nyu.edu/nursing.
About NCIN
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) joined with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) to create New Careers in Nursing: an RWJF Scholarship Program to help alleviate the nursing shortage and increase the diversity of nursing professionals. Through annual grants to schools of nursing, NCIN provides $10,000 scholarships to college graduates with degrees in other fields who wish to transition into nursing through an accelerated baccalaureate or master's nursing program. For more information, visit http://www.newcareersinnursing.org.
About RWJF
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, measurable, and timely change. For more than 40 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at http://www.rwjf.org/twitter or Facebook at http://www.rwjf.org/facebook.
About AACN
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for baccalaureate and graduate programs in nursing. Representing more than 700 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor's and graduate degree nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, research and practice. For more information, visit http://www.aacn.nche.edu.